ERA WELCOMES CUT IN SHOP RATES, CALLS FOR EXTENSION TO BIGGER STORES

The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) has welcomed Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s proposal to suspend business rates for smaller shops unveiled in his Budget yesterday. But ERA is calling on the Chancellor to extend the one year rates holiday to larger stores to preserve the diversity of the UK High Street.

CEO Kim Bayley said, “ERA welcomes this move by the Chancellor to help smaller stores. Rates are a particular burden on physical retailers, increasing their costs and making it harder to compete with internet-based businesses. This has only been exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak.”

ERA research suggests that Chancellor Sunak’s measure could save individual ERA indie record shop members between £15,000 and £22,000 per year.

Said Bayley, “While this will undoubtedly help smaller stores, it does nothing for the bigger High Street chains who also face multiple business challenges. We will continue to lobby Government to broaden the scope of this measure to support the diversity of our High Streets.”